MANILA (XINHUA) – Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos reached USD3.10 billion in August, 2.8 per cent higher than the USD3.02 billion recorded in August last year, the Philippine central bank said yesterday.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the remittances from January to August grew by 2.9 per cent to USD24.01 billion from USD23.34 billion recorded during the same period in 2022.
The BSP said the growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in the first eight months of 2023.
Personal remittances remain a significant source of the Southeast Asian country’s foreign exchange inflows. Filipinos overseas send an annual remittance equivalent to about 10 per cent of the Philippine gross domestic product (GDP).
Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos hit an all-time high of USD36.14 billion in 2022, 3.6 per cent higher than the USD34.88 billion recorded in 2021. The full-year 2022 level accounted for 8.9 per cent of the country’s GDP.
